Chapter 15

2 quarts beef stock 2 tablespoonfuls fat 1 onion, sliced 1 carrot 1 turnip 1/2 stalk celery or dried celery leaves

Heat the fat and sliced onion. Cook until the onion is browned; add a small quantity of water. Cut the vegetables into dice, add them to the water containing browned onion and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the beef stock to the vegetables and vegetable stock; heat; evaporate, if necessary, and then serve.

The vegetables may be strained from the soup, and cooked rice, macaroni, or barley added; or the rice, macaroni, or barley may be cooked with the vegetables. Pearl barley should be soaked in water before being cooked in the stock.

Other vegetables may be used for soup-making, as tomatoes, green peas, asparagus, and cauliflower. Indeed, ingenuity in combining flavors and utilizing "left overs" should form no small part of soup-making.

EXAMINATION OF MEAT LEFT FROM SOUP-MAKING.--Which contains the more nutriment,--beef stock or the meat from which the stock was prepared? What valuable protein material does the solid meat contain (see _Protein in Meat_)? Taste a bit of the meat. What does it lack? In what does the flavoring of this meat exist? What can be added to this "left over" meat as a substitute for its flavor? In the recipe for Baked Hash (below), what supplies flavor to the meat?

BAKED HASH

l 1/2 cupfuls chopped meat and fat 1/3 cupful (or more) boiling water 1 1/2 cupfuls mashed potatoes or stock Salt and pepper 1 cupful cracker crumbs, _or_ 2 cupfuls soft bread crumbs 1 teaspoonful scraped onion Chopped parsley 2 tablespoonfuls butter or substitute

Mix all the ingredients, except the fat and crumbs. Add enough water or stock to moisten all ingredients. Place the mixture in a buttered baking- dish. Mix the fat with the bread or cracker crumbs. Cover the hash mixture with the crumbs, and bake slowly until the meat is thoroughly heated and the crumbs browned. Serve at once.

LESSON LXIV

BEEF: METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS (C)

ROLLED BEEFSTEAK

1 pound round steak 1 cupful soft bread crumbs 1/8 teaspoonful ground cloves Pepper 1/2 teaspoonful salt 1 small onion, chopped Hot water or milk, salt, pepper, flour and fat

Cut round steak of 1/2 inch thickness into pieces 3 by 4 inches. Make a stuffing of the bread crumbs, chopped onions, cloves, salt, pepper, with enough hot water or milk to moisten. Spread the stuffing over the pieces of steak, roll up each piece and tie it with a piece of string, or skewer it with toothpicks. Dredge generously with flour and add salt and pepper. Brown in beef drippings or other fat, cover with boiling water, and simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until tender. Remove the strings or toothpicks, and serve the meat with the sauce in which it was cooked.

If the meat has not been cut thin enough, it may be pounded with a wooden potato masher or mallet to make it sufficiently thin.

BEEF STEW

2 pounds beef 1/4 cupful flour 2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 onion cut into slices 1 quart hot water 2 carrots, cut in dice 1 turnip, cut in dice 4 potatoes, cut in dice 1 tablespoonful kitchen bouquet

Remove the fat from the meat to be stewed; cut the meat into 1-inch pieces. Dredge the meat with the flour; add the salt and pepper. Try out the fat in a frying pan; remove the scraps. Brown the onion and then the meat in the hot fat. Add the hot water and pieces of bone and cook in the frying pan for 2 hours at a low temperature; or turn into a double boiler and cook for the same length of time. Add vegetables, except potatoes, and cook for I hour longer; add the potatoes 1/2 hour before the stew is done. If desired, more flour,--mixed with enough cold water to pour easily,--may be added when the potatoes are added. Remove the bone, add kitchen bouquet, and serve.

THICKENING THE SAUCE OF MEAT COOKED IN WATER.--When meat is dipped in flour, then browned in fat, and finally cooked in water, the flour thickens the water and forms a sauce around the meat. Usually, however, more flour needs to be added to the sauce to make it sufficiently thick. Sometimes directions for adding a flour-and-water paste to the hot meat stock are given, but unless the flour-and-water paste is cooked for some time (boiled for 5 minutes at least) the sauce does not have a pleasing flavor. This is because the starch is insufficiently cooked or the flour is not browned. It has been found much more satisfactory to sprinkle a little extra flour into the hot fat while browning the floured meat. Thus the sauce is made smooth, and the starch cooked thoroughly by the time the sauce is ready to serve.

QUESTIONS

If round steak has been cut too thick for rolling, what is a practical way of making it of one half inch thickness?

For what purpose is rolled steak browned in fat before cooking in water?

Explain why the rolled steak is cooked in water at simmering rather than at boiling temperature.

What is the purpose of dredging these meats in flour?

Why are not the vegetables added to the Beef Stew when the boiling water is added? Why are not the potatoes added with the other vegetables?

Why is the bone added to the Beef Stew?

Name at least two cuts of beef that would be suitable for Beef Stew. What are the prices per pound of these cuts?

LESSON LXV

BEEF: METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS (D)

SWISS STEAK

1 1/2 pounds round steak, cut 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick 1/2 to 1 cupful flour Suet or bacon fat 1/2 onion, sliced 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls salt Dash pepper

With the edge of a saucer, pound the flour into both sides of the steak. In a frying pan, put the suet or bacon fat and brown the onion in it. Then brown both sides of the floured meat in the fat. Cover with boiling water and let the meat cook at simmering temperature either on top of the range or in the oven from 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until it is tender. Add enough salt and pepper to season the meat. If necessary, evaporate the sauce around the meat until it is of sufficient thickness to serve as Brown Sauce. Serve the meat and sauce hot.

If desired, the meat may be stewed in tomato juice instead of water. (If tomato is added, what kind of frying pan (_i.e._ of what material) should be used in cooking the meat? See _Suggestions for Cooking Fruits._)

This variation may also be made: One half green pepper may be chopped and sprinkled over the surface of the steak while the latter is simmering. The onion may be omitted, if desired.

POT ROAST

3 pounds beef Flour Salt pork or suet 1/2 bay leaf 6 peppercorns Salt and pepper 1/4 cupful each,--diced carrot, turnip, onion, and celery

Try out the fat and remove the scraps. Dredge the meat generously with flour and brown the entire surface in the fat. Place the meat on a rack in the kettle; surround it with the vegetables and spices, and season it with salt and pepper. Add 3 cupfuls of boiling water; cover closely and simmer for 4 hours. Turn after the second hour. Serve hot both the meat and the sauce containing vegetables.

NOTE--This meat may be saved and used in the following lesson regarding the uses of cooked beef

SUMMARY OF THE METHODS OF COOKING TOUGH CUTS OF MEAT--There are many recipes for cooking meats All, however, are modifications of a few methods. Moist heat must be applied to tough cuts of meat (see _Tough Cuts of Beef_) The methods of cooking such cuts can be summed up as follows

1 _Soup-making_--Soak meat, bone, and fat in cold salted water, and then cook below boiling temperature in the water.

2. "_Boiling" or Stewing_.--Plunge meat into boiling water; boil until well seared; then cook in water below the boiling temperature.

3. _Pot-roasting and Braising_.--Sear meat by boiling or browning in fat, then cook in steam. If the cooking is done on the top of the range, it is called pot-roasting. If it is done in the oven, it is called braising.

QUESTIONS

What is the chief difference between pot-roasting and braising?

Why is it not necessary to baste meats cooked by these methods?

What is the difference between braising and roasting meats (see _Roasting_)? Why is braising suitable for tough cuts, and roasting for tender cuts (see Experiments 51 and 52)?

Name at least three cuts of meat suitable for pot roasts. Give the price per pound of each.

LESSON LXVI

BEEF: USES OF COOKED BEEF

"LEFT OVERS"--Small pieces of cooked meat should not be thrown away; they can be used in many ways. Even though the meat has been cooked so as to extract its juices, there still remains practically all of the myosin, and this is a valuable constituent. If the juices have been drawn from the meat, a little fresh meat should be added to it, or it should be seasoned well with condiments, spices, or herbs. Water in which the meat has been cooked, and "left over" gravy, should be utilized in making sauces for cooked meats. Cooked meat of tender cut should merely be reheated, not recooked. Hence it is usually well to cut it into pieces or chop it fine in order to heat it quickly.

As in soup-making, ingenuity in combining and using "left over" materials is required in making meat dishes. Stewed tomatoes can be substituted for stock or gravy, and one starchy food substituted for another. The recipes here given simply serve as suggestions. The ingredients and proportions should be changed to utilize available materials.

SCALLOPED MEAT

2 cupfuls chopped meat 2 tablespoonfuls fat 3 tablespoonfuls flour l-1/2 teaspoonfuls salt 1/8 teaspoonful pepper 1 teaspoonful scraped onion or chopped parsley l-1/2 cupfuls milk, stock, or water 2 cupfuls buttered crumbs (See _Crumbs for Scalloped Dishes_.)

Make a Brown Sauce of the fat, salt, pepper, flour, onion or parsley, and milk or stock. Mix with the meat. Butter the crumbs, and place about one half cupful in the bottom of the buttered baking-dish. Add the meat mixture, and cover the top with the remainder of the crumbs. Bake in the oven until the mixture is thoroughly heated and the crumbs are brown.

_Cold fish_ may be shredded and used in the same way.

COTTAGE PIE.--Use the same ingredients as for Scalloped Meat, substituting mashed potatoes for buttered bread crumbs. Place the potato only on the top of the mixture. A little nutmeg may be substituted for the onion.

QUESTIONS

How does meat left from beef stock differ from fresh meat in nutritive value? How does it differ in taste?

Name a starchy food that could be substituted for potatoes in Baked Hash.

Why are spices and herbs added to left over meat dishes?

Name at least three vegetable-and-meat combinations that would be desirable for hash.

How many cupfuls of chopped cooked meat can be obtained from one pound of fresh meat?

Why should cooked meat of tender cut be reheated rather than recooked?

LESSON LXVII

GELATINE (A)

EXPERIMENT 57: EFFECT OF COLD WATER ON GELATINE.--Pour 1 teaspoonful of cold water on 1/4 teaspoonful gelatine. Cover and let stand a few minutes. Examine. Has the water combined with the gelatine? Press a bit of the gelatine with a spoon. How does it compare with the dry gelatine as to hardness?

EXPERIMENT 58: EFFECT OF HOT WATER ON GELATINE.--Pour 1 teaspoonful boiling water on 1/4 teaspoonful gelatine. Place the mixture over hot water. Stir. What is the effect of boiling water on gelatine?

NOTE.--Use the gelatine from these two experiments for the preparation of the gelatine dessert of the lesson.

GELATINE.--When the beef stock of Lesson LXII was strained and cooled, what material, other than fat and protein, was present in it? From what substance in the meat and bone was this material formed (see _Protein in Meat_; _Use of Bone and Fat in Soup-making_; _Examination of Cold Beef Stock_)?

The gelatine which is found at market is prepared from the bones, gristle, skin, and other portions of animals. Although gelatine may be purchased in several different forms, housekeepers find the granulated or pulverized gelatine the most convenient to use.

One ounce of granulated gelatine will stiffen 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of jelly. In hot weather more is required. If fruit, vegetables, or nuts are to be molded in the jelly, use 1 1/2 ounces of gelatine.

Gelatine should be first hydrated (_i.e._ combined with water) by means of cold water, and then dissolved in boiling water.

THE VALUE OF GELATINE.--Gelatine is an incomplete protein, _i.e._ it is lacking in certain amino acids and hence while a good fuel, it does not, without the help of other proteins, both build and repair the body.

The usual gelatine dish contains such a small quantity of gelatine that the question of its food value may be disregarded. The sugar and fruit, however, that are invariably used in gelatine dishes give them food value. Since gelatine liquefies readily by heating, it is valuable in liquid diet.

LEMON JELLY

1 tablespoonful granulated gelatine _or_ 1/4 ounce shredded gelatine 1/4 cupful cold water 3/4 cupful sugar Salt 1 1/2 cupfuls boiling water 1/4 cupful lemon juice

Mix the gelatine and cold water. Let them stand until the water is absorbed. Add the boiling water, sugar, and salt. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved completely, then add the fruit juice, strain, and pour into a mold. Set in a cool place to harden. _Gelatine mixtures should be covered while soaking and cooling_.

_To remove jelly from the mold_, apply a cloth wrung out of hot water to the outside of the mold.

FRUIT JELLY

Prepare lemon jelly mixture. Cover and allow to cool until it begins to stiffen. Peel oranges and bananas; cut them into small pieces or slices. Cut nuts into pieces. Stir in the prepared fruit and nuts. Turn into a mold, cover, and put in a cool place until firm. Serve cold, with or without cream.

Other fruits may be used instead of those mentioned in the recipe. If pineapple is used it must be cooked before adding to jelly. Pineapple contains an enzyme which liquefies gelatine. Hence jelly containing fresh pineapple fails to stiffen.

WHIPPED JELLY

When a gelatine mixture is cool and begins to stiffen, it may be whipped with a Dover egg beater. Air beaten into a gelatine dessert changes it in appearance and quantity.

Lemon Jelly may be varied as follows:

Prepare lemon jelly mixture. Cover and set aside to cool. Then divide into two portions. Add fruit to one portion and turn it into a mold and set aside in a cool place.

Whip the second portion of jelly. When the jelly in the mold is stiff, pour the whipped jelly over it and set aside to cool.

When ready to serve, unmold, garnish with fruit or nuts, if desired. Serve with top milk, plain or whipped cream or Custard Sauce.

QUESTIONS

What is the purpose of covering the gelatine while soaking and cooling?

Why is it necessary to dissolve the gelatine completely?

What would be the effect of adding cold fruit juice to the hot gelatine mixture? What must be the temperature of water to dissolve gelatine? From this explain why the gelatine should be dissolved before the fruit juice is added.

What is the purpose of straining gelatine mixtures?

Through what should gelatine mixtures be strained?

Of what material should jelly molds be made? Why?

How are jellies removed from the molds without breaking or marring the jellies? Explain.

When fruit is to be added to jelly, what is the purpose of allowing the jelly to cool and almost stiffen before adding the fruit?

LESSON LXVIII

GELATINE (B)

SNOW PUDDING

1 tablespoonful granulated gelatine 1/4 cupful cold water 1 cupful sugar Salt 1 cupful boiling water 1/4 cupful lemon juice 2 or 3 egg whites

Mix these ingredients (except egg whites) as for Lemon Jelly. Set aside to cool. Beat the egg whites until stiff. When the gelatine mixture begins to stiffen, beat it (surrounded by ice water) until it becomes frothy, then add the beaten egg whites and continue beating until the mixture begins to stiffen. Turn into a mold and set aside in a cool place. Serve with chilled Custard Sauce.

For the sauce, follow the recipe for Soft Custard, using egg yolks (instead of whole eggs) and 3/8 cupful of sugar (instead of 1/4 cupful). In case only 2 egg yolks are used in making the custard, 1 teaspoonful of corn-starch may be used for additional thickening, as suggested.

The addition of 1/2 cupful of chopped nuts to Snow Pudding makes a pleasing variation. The nuts should be added just before turning the mixture into the mold.

Snow Pudding may be prepared by whipping plain Lemon Jelly as directed in the previous lesson and serving it with Custard Sauce. The use of egg whites, however, adds to the food value of the dessert and makes it more tasty.

PINEAPPLE BAVARIAN CREAM

1 tablespoonful gelatine 1/4 cupful cold water 1 small can (8 ounces) shredded pineapple Boiling water 1/2 cupful sugar Salt 2 tablespoonfuls lemon juice 1/2 cupful (or more) whipped cream

Mix the gelatine and cold water and let stand until the water is absorbed.

Drain the sirup from the shredded pineapple and add enough water to it to make 1 1/2 cupfuls. Heat the pineapple sirup and water to boiling point. Then pour it over the gelatine mixture. Stir until the gelatine is dissolved. Add the sugar and salt and continue stirring until they are dissolved. Add the lemon juice. Cover and set aside in a cold place until the mixture begins to stiffen.

Whip the cream. Add the shredded pineapple and whipped cream to the gelatine mixture. Surround this with ice water and beat until the mixture again begins to stiffen. Turn into a mold and set aside in a cool place. Serve cold.

QUESTIONS

What is the price per package of gelatine?

How many ounces are there in one package? How many tablespoonfuls in one package?

Determine the cost of Lemon Jelly. Of Snow Pudding. What is the difference in the cost?

Which is lighter in weight,--beaten egg white or plain Lemon Jelly? From this, explain why it is necessary to set the gelatine mixture aside until it begins to stiffen before adding the beaten egg-white in the preparation of Snow Pudding.

Explain why the gelatine mixture should be in a slightly stiffened condition before the whipped cream is added to it in the preparation of Bavarian Cream.

LESSON LXIX

FISH (A)

EXPERIMENT 59: EFFECT OF SOAKING FISH IN WATER.--Soak a piece of fresh fish in water for at least 10 minutes. Strain the water and heat it to the boiling point. What foodstuff is found in the water? What practical application can be drawn from the result of this experiment as to washing fish?

EXPERIMENT 60: EFFECT OF BOILING FISH RAPIDLY.--Boil a small piece of fresh fish rapidly for a few minutes. What happens to the fish? Judging from this experiment, what care must be taken in cooking and serving fish?

From the results of Experiments 59 and 60, which method,--boiling or baking,--would be more desirable for cooking fish? Why?

COMPARISON OF BEEF WITH FISH.--Fish is an animal food containing protein. It differs from beef in structure and composition. Most fish contains more water than does beef, hence it has not as high a nutritive value. In the quantity of protein, however, fish is about equal to beef; its protein is also complete. Hence many consider it quite as nutritious as beef. It is lacking in extractives, and needs careful seasoning.

FAT OF FISH.--The fat content of fish varies greatly in different kinds of fish. A few fish, such as salmon for example, contain considerable fat. The edible portion of most fish, however, contains less fat than beef. The ease with which we digest fish depends upon the fat it contains. Fish containing the least quantity of fat is the most easily digested.

CLASSES OF FISH.--According to the quantity of fat it contains, fish may be divided into two classes: _(_a_) dry, or_ lean _fish_, and _(_b_) oily fish_. Cod, haddock, smelt, flounder, perch, bass, brook trout, and pike are dry, or lean fish. Salmon, shad, mackerel, herring, eel, halibut, lake trout, and white fish are oily fish. (This latter group contains from 5 to 10 per cent of fat.)

Fish may also be divided into two classes, according to the water in which they live, fish from the sea being termed _salt-water fish_, and those from rivers and lakes _fresh-water fish_

Since fish contains about as much protein as does beef, it should be generally used as a meat alternative. Inspection of the fish found at market will doubtless acquaint you with many kinds of fish.

SALMON TIMBALE OR LOAF

1 can salmon 1 cupful soft bread crumbs 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls chopped parsley 1/2 teaspoonful salt Pepper 1 or 2 eggs 1 tablespoonful lemon juice 1/4 to 1/2 cupful milk

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, adding enough milk to moisten. Pour into buttered timbale molds or into one bowl. Place on a rack in a pan, surround with hot water, and cover. Bake in the oven or cook on top of the range until the fish mixture is firm and is heated thoroughly. Turn out, and serve with White Sauce to which chopped parsley has been added (for White Sauce, see _White Sauce for Vegetables_. For the fat of the White Sauce, use the oil drained from the salmon).

Peas in White Sauce make a pleasing addition to Salmon Timbale, _Tuna fish_ or other cooked fish may be used instead of salmon.

CASSEROLE OF FISH

Cook 1 cupful of rice or barley (see page 85). Measure the ingredients given in Salmon Timbale or Loaf, using salmon or any kind of canned or cooked fish, and prepare a fish loaf.

Let the cereal cool slightly after cooking. Then line a baking dish or a mold with about three fourths of the cooked rice or barley, pressing it in the dish firmly with a spoon. Put the fish mixture in the cavity and cover it with the remainder of the cereal. Steam the food 30 to 45 minutes. Turn from the mold and serve hot with White Sauce as directed for Salmon Timbale.

Any kind of _cooked_ and _chopped meat_ may be used instead of fish and combined with rice or barley as described above. QUESTIONS

What purpose do the eggs serve in Salmon Loaf?

Think of the effect of intense heat upon the different ingredients in this fish mixture, and then explain why it should not cook for a long time or at a high temperature.

What is the price per can of salmon? Of tuna fish?

Name two fresh fish that are in market now. What is the price per pound of each?

LESSON LXX

FISH (B)

FRESHNESS OF FISH.--Fish is a food which spoils very quickly, and which is dangerous to eat if not fresh. For this reason the housekeeper should be able to judge of the freshness of fish. In fresh fish:

(_a_) The flesh is firm and elastic, especially along the backbone.

(6) The gills are bright.

(_c_) The eyes are bright and bulging.

The sinking of fish when placed in water has also been given as an indication of its fitness for use as food. Decayed fish floats on water.

Since fish spoils readily, it must be frozen if kept for any length of time. Frozen fish is not undesirable provided it is kept in a frozen state until used; it should be thawed out by placing it in cold water _just before cooking_. Fish that has been thawed out and kept for some time before cooking may contain at times poisonous substances called _ptomaines_. Ptomaines in food may produce distressing effects or may even prove fatal.

Fresh fish should be kept in a cool place until used, but should not be placed uncovered in the refrigerator. It may, however, be tightly covered,--put in a tin pail or glass jar,--and placed in the refrigerator. Before cooking, fish should be washed thoroughly with a wet cloth. On account of the odor, all utensils used in the cooking of fish should be washed in salted water.

BAKED FISH

Clean and wash a large fish. The head or tail may or may not be removed before baking. If the head is retained, the eyes should be removed before serving; this is done more easily after cooking. If the tail is retained, it should be wrapped in oiled paper to prevent it from burning.